Broadway buffs will have to wait until late spring for this year’s Tony nominations, but on the other side of the pond today (February 7), the Laurence Olivier nominations were announced to honor outstanding work on the London stage from 2010. Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s new musical, the Phantom of the Opera sequel Love Never Dies, scored a field-leading seven nominations, including Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Sierra Boggess), and Best Actor in a Musical (Ramin Karimloo). A revival of Terence Rattigan‘s play, After the Dance, received six nods.

Longtime BBC America viewers will want to congratulate Tamsin Greig, best known for her roles on the comedies Black Books and Green Wing. She’s up for a Best Actress in a Play Olivier for her role as a tart-tongued Hollywood agent in A Little Dog Laughed. (American actress Julie White won a Tony for playing the same part back in 2007.) It’s been a great year for Greig, as her new sitcom, the Matt LeBlanc-led Episodes, has been a critical and ratings hit for Showtime.

The Best Actor in a Play field is so overstuffed with legendary talent that the Oliviers expanded the category to five nominees: last year’s Best Actor, Mark Rylance, could make it two in a row for his part as the foul jokester Valere in La Bête. (After moving the show to Broadway late last year with co-stars David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley, Rylance is also deemed a leading contender for the Tony.)

Rylance is heralded as the great Shakespearean actor of our time, and this year finds him vying against three actors performing the Bard’s works: Roger Allam in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Sir Derek Jacobi in King Lear, and Rory Kinnear in Hamlet. Lastly, David Suchet a.k.a. TV’s Poirot is nominated for his performance in Arthur Miller‘s All My Sons.

• Sophie Thompson for Clybourne Park at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST ACTOR

• Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

• Derek Jacobi for King Lear at the Donmar Warehouse

• Rory Kinnear for Hamlet at the Olivier

• Mark Rylance for La Bete at the Comedy

• David Suchet for All My Sons at the Apollo

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Sarah Goldberg for Clybourne Park at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

• Anastasia Hille for The Master Builder at the Almeida

• Gina McKee for King Lear at the Donmar Warehouse

• Rachael Stirling for An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville

• Michelle Terry for Tribes at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• James Laurenson for Hamlet at the Olivier

• Hilton McRae for End of the Rainbow at the Trafalgar Studios 1

• Lee Ross for Birdsong at the Comedy

• Adrian Scarborough for After the Dance at the National Theatre, Lyttelton

MASTERCARD BEST NEW PLAY

• Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

• End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter at the Trafalgar Studios 1

• Sucker Punch by Roy Williams at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

• The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane at the Garrick

• Tribes by Nina Raine at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL

• Into the Woods at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

• Passion at the Donmar Warehouse

• Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

BEST NEW MUSICAL

• Fela! book by Jim Lewis and Bill T Jones, music and lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, additional lyrics by Jim Lewis, arrangements and additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean at the National Theatre, Olivier

• Legally Blonde the Musical book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefeand Nell Benjamin at the Savoy

• Love Never Dies music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton at the Adelphi

• Love Story by Erich Segal, book and lyrics by Stephen Clark, music and additional lyrics byHoward Goodall at the Duchess

BEST ENTERTAINMENT

• Beauty and the Beast devised by Katie Mitchell, text by Lucy Kirkwood at the Cottesloe

Kevin Wicks

Kevin Wicks founded BBCAmerica.com's Anglophenia blog back in 2005 and has been translating British culture for an American audience ever since. While not British himself—he was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri—he once received inordinate hospitality in London for sharing the name of a dead but beloved EastEnders character. His Anglophilia stems from a high school love of Morrissey, whom he calls his "gateway drug" into British culture.